Mac Mini

I am a college student looking for a small desktop (to use as a remote print, vpn, etc) and i was looking at a mac mini (which my friend got). I was wondering where the best place to find a mac mini would be, ( i was going to slap linux on it so the intel/ppc argument doesnt apply here)
and on top of that, about how much i would be looking to pay for it. I dont really need the hdd from it, i have a few spares. Thanks for your help!

eBay for second hand minis. G4 minis can be had for $200 but an Intel 1.66GHz Core Duo would be soooo much faster and goes for about $300. A 1.5GHz Core Solo can be upgraded (CPU is socketed) so if you can get one for $40-50 less than a Core Duo, that might be worth thinking about.

I am a college student looking for a small desktop (to use as a remote print, vpn, etc) and i was looking at a mac mini (which my friend got). I was wondering where the best place to find a mac mini would be, ( i was going to slap linux on it so the intel/ppc argument doesnt apply here)
and on top of that, about how much i would be looking to pay for it. I dont really need the hdd from it, i have a few spares. Thanks for your help!

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Why spend extra on a Mac if you are just going to run Linux on it? I don't know if you need it to be as small as a mini, but you can get a refurbished PC from Tiger Direct for $100 that's not much bigger than the mini.

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